Posts tagged ‘Jordan Gorfinkel’

Batman is chasing some murderous gangsters down a twisting coastal road, and does not see when they force another car off the road and into the water.

But the story follows the family, as their car sinks to the bottom and slowly fills with water.

Batman’s pursuit of the killers is almost wordless, compared with the scenes in the car.

You kind of know that somehow Batman has to find out about these people and rescue them, but pages go by, and their oxygen depletes, and Batman only has the slightest clue, a bit of paint in a dent in the killer’s car.

But that clue, and a terrified hoodlum, provide the info he needs.

Just in time! Though as the mother points out, had he come sooner, he would not have been able to open the car door, because of the water pressure.

Jordan Gorfinkel, Jeff Johnson and Dan Panosian bring the Jacobian series to an end, as he and Lilith have their final battle.

Just as in the story with the hero the Moment, Lilith wants all the power right away, and to herself. But the Jacobian knows she cannot handle it.

He “cleanses” her with water, the purest element, and removes her memory, returning her to the temple.

As the series ends, he bids farewell to Kobi. Kobi is his son, that is clear, and even his hunches tell him this, but he ignores it.

The Jacobian has never appeared since. Should have recognized your son, that would have been worth another storyline.

While I don’t find this works entirely, I do enjoy the series for creating an intriguing and offbeat adventure.

The laughs keep on coming as Superman and Batman fight to determine whether Lex Luthor gets to keep his kryptonite ring in Detective 756 (May 2001), the second half of a story that began in the previous issue of Superman, by Rucka, Koi Turnbull and Dan Davis.

Batman feels that with the presidency and the ring, Luthor is simply too powerful, and has decided to retrieve the ring. Superman, though not faulting his logic, maintains that the ring is Luthor’s possession, and Batman has no right to it.

Because Luthor has had lead-lining put into the walls, Superman is not able to track Batman as easily as he might, and Batman finds enough shadows to hide from the White House security as well. Sasha spots him, though. She had accompanied Bruce Wayne on his visit to the White House – and Wayne has once again disappeared.

Superman also spots Sasha, and escorts her out. But he slips, and calls her by name. How did he know it?

The fight between the two heroes is almost slapstick, carrying itself through the White House and into the oval office.

Luthor confronts them there, and though Batman does take the ring from his desk, Luthor demands Superman get it from him. But Batman turns over the ring too easily, in Luthor’s view, and he tests it on Superman, who does not react. Sure enough, Batman has a second ring, which does cause Superman to keel over.

Luthor kicks the heroes and Lois Lane out, tossing them the fake ring. But as Lois discovers, the whole thing was a huge set-up. The fake ring was the real ring, and they were out-conning Luthor. Superman was able to no react simply because he knew the kryptonite exposure was coming, and he concealed the pain.

Sasha has spent her spare time rifling through Bruce Wayne’s luggage. And look what she finds.

Fun, and clever.

The Jacobian reaches its penultimate chapter, by Gorfinkel, Johnson and Panosian.

The Jacobian and Leelee are brought to the temple, and all gets explained.

The explanation goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden, and Adam and Lilith. Adam attained great knowledge of the world, which was passed down through his ancestors, to Jacob. The Jacobian is the long-awaited herald who can manifest the powers of Adam.

Greg Rucka, Shawn Martinborough and Steve Mitchell are back as Commissioner Gordon retires after recovering from being shot, in Detective 754 (April 2001).

The story is largely narrated by Sasha Bordeaux, as she observes the odd behaviour of Bruce Wayne. The notion that Wayne is a combination of Cary Grant and Jim Carrey is brilliant.

In fact, much of this story plays out as light comedy – the terribly awkward silence after Bruce introduces Sasha around at the party, and no one has anything to say. Nice to see Shotgun Smith there, and Barbara’s presence is a given.

Sasha notices that, despite Bruce’s behaviour, he is not drinking alcohol, nor has she ever seen him do so.

Things get a bit more serious when arm armed man bursts in to kill Gordon. Well, not on this page, which makes it clear he has no chance.

But amidst the chaos and comedy, Sasha notices something. And Bruce notices something. And Sasha notices that the lazy playboy, with a hard as rock body, has noticed what she has noticed. And once again he disappears on her.

Following him into the men’s room, she delivers a stern lecture to the one occupied cubicle, only to find that Bruce was not inside it – Two-Face was.

Two-Face takes the podium, as Batman pulls Sasha to safety. But instead of some deranged attack, it’s Harvey Dent who speaks, giving a testimonial to Jim Gordon as if the years, and the acid scarring, were erased.

An excellent story. A lot of fun, some good surprises, and Bruce has no idea how close Sasha is to figuring things out.

Gorfinkel and Panosian bring the Jacobian story towards its conclusion in this chapter.

The Mahmetchik are bringing the Jacobian and Leelee to their secret temple, on board a flying slave ship thing.

As they arrive, they face Kobi. I have a hunch that Kobi is the same boy who was the general a few issues ago. And in this series, hunches are what you go on.

Detective 754 (March 2001) is the sixth chapter in Officer Down, a storyline running through the Batman books this month, in which Commissioner Gordon gets shot, and the regular creative teams get shunted around.

Nunzio Defilipis scripts, with Michael Collins on pencils, and Jesse Delperdang and Steven Bird on inks, as Crispus Allen and Renee Montoya try to extract a confession from the man they are certain is guilty of shooting Gordon. He was a policeman in Chicago years ago, and Gordon fired him for corruption.

The evidence they have is not enough for a conviction, but even with Renee doing all she can as bad cop, the guy never loses his cool.

Barbara Gordon is sitting vigil with her father, while Batman watches from an adjacent roof. Harvey Bullock comes by, with a picture of the man, but Gordon did not see his shooter, and cannot identify him.

Allen nearly gets the confession they want, after threatening the man with Batman, who he fears will kill him. He actually admits the crime, but modifies his sentence to wheedle out of it.

They release him, and Batman corners him. But when he finds out that Batman does not intend to kill him, his composure returns, and goes free.

The story continues in the next issue of Gotham Knights.

Gorfinkel, Johnson and Panosian leave the Jacobian under the sea, as Nereus heads above the waves to attack a city. Nereus remembers the Jacobian, but it’s not mutual. The Jacobian recalls none of his abilities, yet retains some, as he and Leelee are able to breathe and talk underwater.

Leelee is finally able to convince the Jacobian that he is her husband. It’s been pretty obvious for a while now, but he’s suffered numerous memory wipes, and wouldn’t have believed her had she said it at the start.

The Jacobian makes a deal with the Mahmetchik to restore enough of his powers that he can stop Nereus, which they do.

Detective 753 (Feb.01) was part of a sort-of crossover idea that ran through the Bat-books this month. “In this issue – Batman dies!” Except, you know, he didn’t. Most of the stories (but not all) have some sequence in which the villain imagines killing Batman. And that’s supposed to be enough to justify it. It wasn’t.

Greg Rucka doesn’t even bother with the Batman dying part, as he is joined by four artists for the story – Steve Manion, Bradley Raider, Hilary Barta and John Lowe – as we read a comic book, written and drawn by Harvey Dent, as part of his program at Arkham.

The comic story is fairly simple. Harvey Dent is a heroic detective, fighting his evil side, which is it’s own persona, Dr. Janus. Batman is Janus’ muscled goon, and Renee Montoya is made into a helpless damsel. Can’t imagine she would have enjoyed this rendition of her.

But it’s all for nothing, as budget cuts end the program. And Batman doesn’t die, in the comic, or even in the comic within the comic.

There is a bit of a change of pace in this installment of the Jacobian, by Gorfinkel, Johnson and Panosian.

The Mahmetchik are in focus in this one, as well as a child, Kobi. We see their hidden temple.

And Kobi spies, as one of them is sent to retrieve the Jacobian. This chapter puzzles me a bit, it doesn’t tie in well, and I’m not sure of the identity of the one being sent out.

The end of it jumps back to following the previous issue, as the Jacobian and Leelee find themselves under the sea, with Nereus.

Batman enters Robinson Park, hoping to find some solution before the police send their troops in. He has to battle Feraks, but figures that will just draw Ivy’s attention, and he needs to find her anyway.

Sasha Bordeaux is still at the Wayne Building, not able to find Bruce anywhere, and joins the long list of people frustrated over his mysterious absences.

Batman does talk with Ivy, but the stalemate continues. Still, Ivy is sad about the situation, rather than defiant.

She wants to save the park, and the children, but it seems impossible to do both. So she orders the children to leave. They do, and briefly wind up in the hands of the police, but then turn around and come back into the park. They willingly become human shields to protect Ivy from Gordon and the police.

The story reaches as positive a conclusion as it possibly could. Ivy leaves the park, saving the children, but does wind up carted back to Arkham. It leaves one relieved, if not happy.

Leelee finds herself back at square one in this chapter of the Jacobian, by Gorfinkel, Johnson and Panosian.

The Jacobian now believes himself to be a simple fisherman, with no memory of anything that has happened so far. But Leelee finds him before the fake memories have had time to really take. But the Mahmetchik are there, and the characters wind up fighting on a boat.

Even though No Man’s Land has ended, Poison Ivy has remained in control of Robinson Park, with her Ferak creatures defending it, and a group of children who have become her devoted followers. Gordon and the police decide the time has come to get her out.

Lucius Fox decides the time has come to get a bodyguard for Bruce Wayne, and hires Sasha Bordeaux.

Bruce is not pleased.

But he is also not able to argue against Lucius’ reasoning.

Gordon sets up a perimeter around the park, and the Ferak’s start fighting back.

Spotting this from his building, Bruce excuses himself from Sasha to go to the bathroom.

While not shown to be any less ruthless, Poison Ivy is still quite a sympathetic figure in the story. No one else really seems to care about the park, or the children. And there is nowhere else for her to be.

As well, starting with this story, Poison Ivy’s colouring is no longer shown to be human skin tone, but rather a more plant-like shade.

The story concludes next issue.

The Jacobian story jumps a bit, as he and Leelee are now in the middle of a combat situation, thanks to Gorfinkel, Johnson and Panosian.

There is a child general, reputed to have magical powers. The Jacobian catches up to him just as the enemy troops do. They are prepared to kill the boy, but he actually has powers – not unlike the Jacobian.

The Mahmetchik appear, using a special word to erase the boy’s powers and memories. And then they do the same to the Jacobian.